Bull by Bull

• I found the absolute perfect place to board Bingo, when needed. Not only is she safe, she has a pen and access to the “bitch barn.” She has a view of all that goes on on a farm with a big family with lots and lots of critters, way cool old machinery, and any number of outbuildings. Just like it used to be.

• It feels like a lot of things that used to be shiny are turning into yard art right before my eyes. Vernon’s old 1968 shoein’ truck has even begun to sink into the ground, and when I pulled my 36 year old stock trailer out last week for the first time in too many years, I had to use WD-40 in any number of places on the hitch. Of course, many of my buck-and-rail fences have been sagging for a while now, but then so have I.

• My big brother, Joe Bull, is coming for a visit this summer. We’ve not seen each other since we parted company in England nine years ago. It will be good to be back together. One thing for sure about getting on in age, it does soften your heart.

•  I don’t cook; I’ve tried to a couple of times and it’s just not my thing. The few times I have tried, I couldn’t believe the mess I’d made. I even had to take the printer out of the oven, and I was starving by the time everything was ready. Nope. Not my thing.

• I still use AOL for my email. Those close to my heart indulge me and I find it a fun way to reach out, oftentimes in the evenings. Those of you with kids and grandkids know how good it feels when you hear from them. Kinda like that.

• I called Procter & Gamble last winter to complain about the smell of Tide. Over a period of months I’d purchased and tried enough Tide to last a lifetime, and not one of them was the smell I remember. Come to find out, sure enough “they” have changed the formula and the scent, though the P&G lady on the phone promised me that if I tried Fresh Scent, I was sure to like it. They don’t make it anymore.

• I finally turned 80 and I’m not at all disappointed. Though much has definitely changed over these many years, I’ve pretty much been like this all of my life. As Parker Palmer wrote in his book, “On the Brink of Everything,” true self is the self with which we arrive on earth, the self which simply wants us to be who we were born to be.”